George Michael

Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (George Michael) achieved fame in the duo Wham! in his native U.K. in 1982. Through 1986, he and his partner, Andrew Ridgeley, scored hit after hit in a variety of styles from rap to up-tempo pop to slow ballads. As songwriter and lead singer, Michael gradually overshadowed the group, and by the time they split, he was ready for a massively successful solo career. This began with the 1987 album Faith, which featured a series of chart-topping hit singles and sold more than seven million copies. That Michael had not achieved a similar critical success was evident from the title of his follow-up album, Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1, which must be considered a major commercial disappointment even though it sold a million copies, included two Top Ten hits, and hit number two. With Vol. 2 apparently shelved, Michael contributed several songs to the charity album Red Hot + Dance in 1992, and one of them, "Too Funky," reached the Top 20.